Using FATE Core for a THS Campaign?

[panton41]

Originally Posted by thrash

You might consider Diaspora rather than FATE Core. It's a deliberately designed Traveller reboot, but includes some transhumanist elements.

Diaspora uses an older set of Fate rules and if he's going to drop the setting anyway in favor of THS then I don't think it really matters and arguably Fate Core is better supported.

You can invoke Aspects without spending a Fate Point if you Create an Advantage first. You might also make some of the special things the more powerful characters can do a Stunt and maybe raise the Refresh to allow more and more powerful Stunts in play. (If you have access to the Dresden Files RPG you can see a worked example of Stunts as powers for an older version of Fate.)

I'd also argue "Is a SAI" is a poorly worded Aspect that would be difficult to actually use in play. Aspects should be fairly descriptive and able to be used both to benefit or be a problem. (Even a well-worded Trouble can have a beneficial side.)

I've considered doing a Banestorm gaming using Fate simply because my players find it easier to understand than GURPS, though what's holding is back is the fact they don't know the setting well.

[Anthony]

You'd want to make use of Extras and/or custom Stunts for features of the setting, but 'plucky baselines' are just as prevalent in GURPS.

[Phil Masters]

I'd imagine that you might want to look at Mindjammer, too, that being a recent posthumanist SF game using FATE.

[johndallman]

I haven't played much FATE, but what I have done doesn't make me optimistic about this. THS as I've played it has been largely about understanding the environment, and trying to figure out how to deal with it.

FATE seems very centred on the characters' ideas, backgrounds and other things that make up Aspects. It seems to be about making the world conform to the characters' dramatic tropes.

These don't seem highly compatible.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

I'd imagine that you might want to look at Mindjammer, too, that being a recent posthumanist SF game using FATE.

Thanks for pointing out another TH game. I might take a closer look at it some time. (Note: I'm not planning to GM FATE THS, but I might be willing to play it.)

Originally Posted by johndallman

I haven't played much FATE, but what I have done doesn't make me optimistic about this. THS as I've played it has been largely about understanding the environment, and trying to figure out how to deal with it.

FATE seems very centred on the characters' ideas, backgrounds and other things that make up Aspects. It seems to be about making the world conform to the characters' dramatic tropes.

These don't seem highly compatible.

To me, all RPGs were largely about understanding the environment, and trying to deal with it. This is one of the reasons why FATE is such a weird thing for me. It seems to have a way of handling Details That Matter while also being a light-ish system. Now, the whole 'character themes can be more important than character traits' is very meta for me.

[David L Pulver]

My understanding is that FATE is the "go-to" system for Transhumanist games.

There's Disaspora, Mindjammer, and the under-development official Eclipse Phase FATE version (many playtest files available online for it) ... as well as a fate version of Nova Praxis, the latter of which seems to closely mirror many tech assumptions with GURPS.

I think if you like FATE's way of handling things and its degree of abstraction, there is a ton of support for transhumanist-style games with it.

I am not comfortable with FATE myself for science fiction gaming, but this reflects my own preferences for detail regarding tactical situations, space travel, man-machine interfaces, and so on. But if that isn't a problem, there is HUGE support for transhuman gaming with Fate, more than any other system, I think.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by ciaran_skye

You can invoke Aspects without spending a Fate Point if you Create an Advantage first. You might also make some of the special things the more powerful characters can do a Stunt and maybe raise the Refresh to allow more and more powerful Stunts in play. (If you have access to the Dresden Files RPG you can see a worked example of Stunts as powers for an older version of Fate.)

Well, inherent Aspects of a character are not Aspects Created As An Advantage. Stunts seem to way to go for e.g. faster initiative rolls of AIs.

Originally Posted by ciaran_skye

I'd also argue "Is a SAI" is a poorly worded Aspect that would be difficult to actually use in play. Aspects should be fairly descriptive and able to be used both to benefit or be a problem. (Even a well-worded Trouble can have a beneficial side.)

Well, 'Is a SAI' has some pretty detailed in-setting effects, such as vulnerability to viruses, ultra-fast reflexes, social stigma in many states, ability to do all the generic infomorph stuff etc.)